


You're My Best Friend

by Venxvon



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, Happy birthday Yamaguchi!, Yamaguchi Week 2020, day 4! captain!, first years as third years!, i think captain yama deserves interviews, squint. the summary has like.. saddish vibes but this is not sad at all, technically manga spoilers?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:40:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27405934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Venxvon/pseuds/Venxvon
Summary: If you had told Tadashi last year the hardest interview question he would get is, "who is your best friend?" he probably would've laughed and said he would be lucky if that was the hardest question he got.Now he's absolutely sure he'd rather answer anything else.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46
Collections: Yamaguchi Week 2020





	You're My Best Friend

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Queens "You're My Best Friend"! Had that on repeat writing this lmao  
> it's still yama day where i am okay!!! this still counts as a yama day fic! im counting it!  
> as always i will edit this... eventually but probs not tonight!  
> this fic was one of my shortest but easily one of my hardest to write... i think i rewrote it four times.... but its done. it's. done.

_This is so dumb,_ Tadashi thinks as he makes another X with his arms at Kageyama. _This is the dumbest thing we have ever decided to do_.

He has no idea how Kageyama managed to do this with a straight face, this was embarrassing as hell. It felt like the entire hallway was staring at him, and he has no idea how the reporter hasn’t noticed him yet. He just has to sit here and make shapes with his arms now, he was going to be that weird guy making arm shapes at national youth camp’s Kageyama Tobio now. He could definitely hear people whispering, this was the end for him.

“Are you confident in your team’s dynamic?” The reporter asks, and really shouldn’t Tadashi be the one answering that? Does Kageyama even need a prompt for that one?

He signs an O just in case.

He puts his head in his hands as Kageyama continues answering questions and wonders why they agreed on this being the plan. It had seemed alright a few weeks ago, when they had realized they were going to get more interviews this year… Especially because Daichi and Ennoshita had been no help with interview advice.

Why Tadashi had to be the captain that ended up getting the most interviews was beyond him. Daichi had the excuse of the team not really being very popular, only getting any sort of attention towards the end of his captaincy. Tadashi grits his teeth as he remembers the laugh Daichi let out when they had asked him for interview advice, he had gotten off easy. Ennoshita on the other hand, had simply perfected the art of avoiding any and all reporters. He had only dealt with one reporter and it had been because Kamomedai’s Hoshiumi had asked him too. Even then, Ennoshita had said he would never do it again.

Tadashi pushes his face into his hands harder as he remembers the laugh Ennoshita had let out when they called for help. He hadn’t even bothered trying to explain to them how he avoided reporters, just added a quick “good luck” between laughs before hanging up.

So now Tadashi was here, being the weird arm guy.

Tadashi sighs as he tunes back into the reporter’s words, something about partners and Hinata. That’s fine, the entire team could probably answer questions about Hinata at this point. Whether for better or worse.

“Not including your duo with Hinata,” The reporter continues, “Are there any other particularly strong match ups within your team you’re excited to show off this year?”

Tadashi smiles and throws his hands up in the air. He’s sure Kageyama can answer that by himself. Not even considering the third years, their first and second years were just as weird as the freak duo now. Tadashi does hope he’ll get mentioned though, he had worked too much to let the new and improved Tadashi-Tsukki-Serve-and-Block (name pending) go unnoticed.

“Yes,” Kageyama answers and ah, Tadashi was supposed to help answer that, wasn’t he. “Me and this years Captain, Yamaguchi Tadashi, work together very well.”

Tadashi blinks, well that was nice. Confusing, but nice.

Kageyama glances at him, Tadashi makes a heart. Kageyama blinks at him, Tadashi shrugs, _Thanks?_

Kageyama looks back to the reporter, who had asked something or other about him and Kageyama. Oops, he should probably pay closer attention to that.

“Yamaguchi and I have become much closer this year,” Kageyama continues, “We are excited for everyone to see our new team, and to see us work together.”

Tadashi sends him a thumbs up happily. He wasn’t sure where this was coming from, but he would take it! Kageyama sends him back a quiet nod, looking a little proud of himself. He’s still a little confused, but it probably made the reporter happy and that was their goal. At least he was pretty sure that was their goal.

They probably should have figured this out more.

Still, the interview was coming to an end and that meant they could run away after. Tadashi crossed his fingers as the reporter quickly wrote something down. _C_ _ome onnnn last question._

“Is there anyone you’d consider your best friend on the team then?” The reporter finally asks, “Since you’ve been working on your dynamic?”

Kageyama stares at her, then turns to Tadashi, not even trying to be subtle about it. Tadashi shrugs back at him. How was he supposed to answer that! This was obviously a question Kageyama had to answer on his own!

Kageyama blinks at him very slowly and pointedly, and that’s how Tadashi realizes he’s panicking. Probably too many non-volleyball questions. Those were usually reserved for Tadashi but it seemed like this reporter was determined to get as much as possible out of Kageyama. Tadashi knows if he overthinks this then he’s going to panic too, and then they’ll just be two weirdos panicking in the hall. Tadashi already had to be arm shape guy, he was _not_ going to add anything to that title.

Which is how he ends up just pointing at himself. An easy solution, no immediate consequences, and then he could pull Kageyama out.

“Yamaguchi,” Kageyama immediately responds, not even looking away from Tadashi. “Yamaguchi is my best friend.”

It takes everything in Tadashi not to laugh at hearing that. They were so bad at this. Who let them get interviewed? Who let them come up with this interviewing strategy? They shouldn’t be left alone for this.

“Oh really?” The reporter responds, surprisingly not put off by the fact Kageyama wasn’t even looking at them, “Is there anything-” and no, nope, Tadashi was ending this interview.

“Kageyama!” Tadashi calls, trying his best to pretend he had just shown up, and hoping that none of the people in the hall call him on it. “We have to get going now!”

Tadashi doesn’t let the reporter get in another word, quickly bowing and apologizing, then grabbing Kageyama and dragging him away. Kageyama waves goodbye at the reporter and goes easily. He’s probably just as eager to end the interview as Tadashi was. He had more experience with them than Tadashi, but he hated them just as much.

Tadashi waits until he's absolutely sure they’re out of earshot before stopping. He glances back at Kageyama, who just stares back.

Then Tadashi starts laughing.

“How-” Tadashi tries, “How did you do that with a straight face?” He lets out another laugh, “That was so embarrassing!”

Kageyama snorts, obviously holding back a laugh himself, “I’d rather do that than try to figure out what I’m supposed to say. How did you decide when to ignore me and when to listen to the signals I gave?”

Tadashi tries to tamp down his laughter and puts on a serious face, “If you were going to get me to say something stupid,” He looks Kageyama in the eyes. “I’d ignore you.”

A second passes between them.

Then they both break into laughter.

“That was the worst,” Kageyama gets out once he starts to calm down, “Let’s never do that again.”

Tadashi nods in agreement, slapping Kageyama on the back as they start to make their way back to the team, “Let’s just go back and see if we can make sure the rest of our interviews are joint ones. At least that way we don’t have to worry about making hand signals across the hall anymore.”

Kageyama lets out an amused huff, but agrees and Tadashi finds himself hopeful for the rest of the tournament. Things could really only go up from here.

He doesn’t question it too much when Kei shows up to their meeting spot after the first games for the day have ended looking more annoyed than usual. He shoots a raised eyebrow his way as he’s doing his headcount, but doesn’t push it. Kei would tell him when he was ready. Or when Tadashi wasn’t trying to wrangle the entire team into getting into straight lines so they wouldn’t get lost.

Later, once they’re all on the short bus ride back to the hotel, Kei takes his headphones off and shoots Tadashi a meaningful glance. Tadashi ignores it and waits for Kei to say something. Kei sighs but doesn’t put his headphones back on, so Tadashi isn’t too worried.

“I get why _you_ get interviewed,” He begins, “Your our captain, and everyone has wanted to interview you since your first year anyways.” Tadashi raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything.

“I guess I even understand why someone might want to interview the King,” Kei continues, “Considering the only thing he’s not a complete idiot in is volleyball.”

Tadashi rolls his eyes but lets out a snort despite himself. Kei was really never going to leave Kageyama alone, was he? He nudges Kei, just to show him he wasn’t going to be a complete pushover about Kei’s ribbing. He had to at least _pretend_ to scold him.

“I could even see someone trying to get something out of Hinata,” Kei says, ignoring Tadashi’s nudge. “He acts like he’s five, but there’s no way you wouldn’t get a volleyball report from him. Whether you wanted one or not.”

“You’re probably not wrong,” Tadashi concedes, “I heard he got a 70 on an essay, and when I asked him what it was about he said he just started thinking about volleyball and ended up writing enough about it that he got carried away. I think he said his teacher cried.”

Kei laughs at that, having no issue believing it.

“Unsurprising. The only time he does well in school is when it’s volleyball related.”

“Honestly I think I cried when I saw Hinata got a 70,” Yachi chimes in from behind them, already looking a little teary eyed at the memory. "But I heard Hinata almost got interviewed today!"

"Almost?" Tadashi asks.

"Oh, he said he had to go to the team meeting place before the interviewer got to ask him anything! But he said the interviewer made him promise for an interview tomorrow!"

"Well that puts me ahead of him, because I got interviewed today." Kei asserts, looking mildly proud of himself.

Tadashi chuckles, he is absolutely sure that Kei hated the interview and is only bragging about it now to get one up on Hinata.

"Wow! What was it like?" Yachi asks, interested as ever.

"Horrible," Kei responds, in tandem with Tadashi mouthing 'horrible' with a faux serious face behind him.

Yachi laughs at them, but prompts Kei to continue.

"I got maybe three questions about volleyball, then I got asked who my best friend was, and then they left."

Tadashi snorts, "They asked who your best friend was?" He pauses, "You said me right?"

"Yes I said you," Kei sighs, "She seemed kind of surprised to hear it, so now I know you've been complaining about me to reporters."

"Oh Tsukki," Tadashi says, trying to sling his arm around his ridiculously tall best friend, "I complain about you to everyone."

"I somehow knew you were going to say that."

"And you still let me say it." Tadashi says, shooting him a wide smile.

Yachi laughs at them again, the three of them moving on to talk about their match tomorrow. Tadashi doesn't think too much about it, the rest of the team being interviewed meant less interviews for him, and that was a trade he'd make any day.

It's not until he almost walks through Hinata's interview the next day that he realizes there's a pattern.

He sucks in a breath as he looks up from his phone and sees Hinata talking to another person holding a notepad. He quickly backs away, he had no idea where Kageyama was and would _not_ be getting into another interview without him.

Hinata is speaking a mile a minute, looking very proud of himself. The reporter is writing something down maybe every four sentences. Tadashi can't tell if it's because Hinata's just talking that fast, or if they just lost interest 300 words ago. Tadashi casually hides himself behind the corner as he waits for them to finish up. It looks like Hinata has just finished his answer, beaming at the reporter as he waits for another question.

"Who's your best friend on the team?" The reporter asks, and Tadashi chokes on air.

Hinata blinks, "That's a weird question!" He responds bluntly.

Tadashi puts his face in his hands. They were going to talk about interview etiquette when they got back to the hotel. All these soon to be professional volleyball players, and not a single one of them could hold an interview. Not that he was too great at it himself, but he wasn't going to make it his _job_.

"Ah sorry," the reporter backtracks, "I was just curious, but you don't have to answer if you don't want to!"

"It's okay!" Hinata reassures. He chuckles a bit, "You should ask Kageyama that, I'm sure the reaction would be funny."

"Oh, I already asked him."

Tadashi is not sure he likes where this is going.

"What'd he say!" Hinata asks, obviously either hoping for a funny answer, or to hear his own name. If Tadashi thinks about it, he's pretty sure Kageyama's actual best friend is probably Hinata. They spend the most time together, and even though they fight often they do get along well... Tadashi does not think this bodes well for him.

"He said your captain was his best friend." The reporter answers simply, and Tadashi sighs.

He really was not getting a break this tournament was he.

Hinata's face does something weird after hearing that, like it's torn between offense, and laughter. Tadashi's glad he can see the humor in this, and hopes he and Kageyama will be spared from any wrath later. At the very least it seems like Hinata's getting some amusement out of it.

"That's funny..." Hinata starts, brow scrunched in concentration, "Because Yamaguchi's..." Tadashi holds his breath. "My best friend!" Hinata finishes, smile back on his face and bigger than ever, looking incredibly proud of himself.

Tadashi wants to yell.

The reporter is furiously writing something down, and Yamaguchi is absolutely sure he needs to avoid them for the rest of the tournament. There is no way this bodes well for him, he's sure of it.

He takes this distraction as his opportunity to run away, and hopes that whatever happens in their next games, he does not get a single interview.

Unfortunately, he does continue to get interviews. Fortunately, he sticks close enough to Kageyama that they're all joint interviews.

Tadashi had been right, they do considerably better as a unit. Any question one of them gets stuck on, the other could usually answer and it turns into an easier task. It also saves him from drawing too much attention to himself and that was all he could ask for. Another helpful result of this, was that the person he was now calling the Best Friend Reporter, did not care about him and Kageyama as a unit. They were trying to get a one on one with him probably and as long as he stuck with Kageyama, he'd be fine.

This strategy works beautifully until right before their game with Itachiyama when Tadashi finds himself suddenly alone. He's waving goodbye at the reporter from Morning Miyagi News and thinking about how excited his first year self would have been to get that interview, when he turns around and doesn't see Kageyama anymore.

His first thought is that he has lost Kageyama, and spike of panic shoots through him. For some reason, 6 foot volleyball players tended to have a nasty habit of getting lost. Tadashi is not sure how they do it, considering 6 feet is already ridiculously tall, but on more than one occasion he has found himself a player down and has learned not to question them. Sometimes, getting lost was a skill. Tadashi could respect that.

It does not make it any less scary to have lost one in the middle of a national tournament though.

He's about to call out Kageyama's name when he sees him standing with the rest of their team a little ways away. He breathes a sigh of relief, no one lost then. He's about to run over when he feels someone tap his shoulder. He tenses, then tries to calm himself down. The chances of it actually being the Best Friend Reporter were low. It was more likely someone from another team, or a different reporter completely.

He turns around and has to resist the urge to sigh as he sees the Best Friend Reporter behind him. Just his luck.

He shoots a look to the team, trying to get one of them to save him. Hinata waves at him, looking very proud of himself. Kageyama and Kei both look away. _Traitors._

"Um, Yamaguchi right?" The reporter starts, and Tadashi whips his head back around to look at them, smile plastered on his face. "I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?"

 _I know what you want to ask me_ , Tadashi thinks, but he agrees anyways.

As they begin asking about his team and Itachiyama, he does his best to consider his best friend options. Obviously there was Kei, and if he was being honest then Kei was the answer he should go with. But now that he knows that Kei left him to this, he absolutely does not want to say it. He could always say Kageyama since he's the reason Kageyama said that Tadashi was his best friend, but Kageyama also left him to this, so that was out. He could say Hinata, but Hinata is probably the one who planned this, and Tadashi didn't want to give him the satisfaction. Maybe Yachi then? She probably hadn't been asked.

"So," They start, and Tadashi can _feel_ the question coming. "I've talked to some of your teammates, including the other third years on the team, and some of your underclassmen," Tadashi blinks at that, had they really all given the same answer? He shoots a quick look at his team, and sees Kei and Kageyama handing out high fives to some of the younger members of the team. Part of Tadashi is incredibly proud of them for getting along long enough to plan this, the rest of him knows he's giving the both of them extra laps when they got back to school.

"I even asked one of your coaches," the reporter continues. Tadashi's mouth drops open in shock, he sees Ukai hold up a peace sign from the corner of his eye. Tadashi is not sure whether to laugh or cry.

"And one of your managers," The reporter adds, and there is no way Yachi betrayed him like this. He turns to look at her, only to see her shoot him a small but undoubtedly sly smile, and her own little peace sign. _Traitors. All of them._ Tadashi thinks, _Can I make managers run laps? Can I make_ Coach _run laps?_ These were important questions for when they got back to Karasuno.

"And well, they all ended up saying you were their best friend on the team!" The reporter finishes, "So I guess that begs the question, what do you do to be so close to your team? And well, who is _your_ best friend on the team?"

 _No_ one, Tadashi wants to say, _This team is full of traitors. All I know is betrayal.  
_

"Well our team definitely prioritizes keeping a healthy dynamic on the court!" He starts, trying to buy himself time as he says stuff about healthy competition and pushing each other forward.If he wasn't going to be truthful, then he might as well try and find the answer to anger as many people as possible. He couldn't say Yachi, as she has already revealed herself as part of the plot. The other third years were already out, and he couldn't say any of his old teammates because they weren't on the team anymore. He couldn't even say the coaches.

Then it comes to him.

"In terms of who my best friend on the team is, I feel like I should first clarify that there are obviously many people supporting us who aren't on our team, but have dedicated so much time to ensuring we succeed that we feel they are on the team in spirit. Because of this there are many people we are close to who are 'on the team'. Which is why I can say with confidence that my best friend on the team is Karasuno's Vice Principal."

He hears Hinata start laughing.

"Without him I truly feel the team would not have gotten as far as we have," Tadashi lies, trying to see if he can rile up Ukai, "And I feel truly thankful to him." He gives the reporter a nod, trying not to feel bad at how confused they look. "I do have to return to my team now, but thank you for taking the time to talk to me!" Then he runs.

The first thing he does is noogie Hinata once he gets to him. Kei tries to say something, but Tadashi gives him a very pointed _You're Next_ look, and he closes his mouth.

"First things first!" Tadashi starts, getting the teams attention, most of them still snickering a bit, "The skill it took to pull that off was impressive! And I will give you credit for that," Hinata and Yachi beam at him. "Second! You are all the worst and the minute we get back to Karasuno we're having a serving bootcamp." The team groans.

"What about-" Yachi starts, smile still wide.

"I will _teach_ the managers to serve myself don't even try," Tadashi says, only half joking as the words make Yachi at least _try_ to stifle her giggles.

"But first we have to go beat Itachiyama!" Tadashi adds, remembering that maybe he shouldn't kill the mood yet.

The team cheers

"So we're going to beat Itachiyama!" Tadashi states, the team cheering in agreement. "Then we're going to go to center court and beat whoever's next!" The team cheers in agreement. "And then we're going to go home champions and do 100 serves each!" The team deflates a bit, but cheers nonetheless.

Tadashi laughs at that, and starts walking to the doors, maybe if they won this one he'd let them off easy. Top 2 would be quite the feat, if they won here he could maybe find it in himself to forgive them.

He was their best friend after all.

**Author's Note:**

> and then they lost to itachiyama so tadashi makes everyone do serves (managers dont have to make it over the net) and they all decide never to prank him again.  
> also seeing furudate describe yama as someone who surprisingly acts before thinking made me laugh very hard he is just Chaotic confirmed
> 
> reporter: i asked your coach-  
> tadashi: :O  
> reporter: and your manager  
> tadashi: >:O
> 
> tbh what is the point of upperclassmen if not for them to recruit you into helping them bully your other upperclassmen?


End file.
